Housing, services, infill: Yellowknife's mayor looks ahead to the issues facing the next council

As Yellowknife gears up for its municipal election, Mayor Rebecca Alty says the next council will have a lot of big decisions to make about the future of the city.

Alty has been acclaimed as mayor for a second term. For the rest of city council, 16 candidates are vying for eight seats.

Alty spoke with CBC's Marc Winkler Thursday morning about the upcoming vote, and what comes after.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Why do you think no one else wanted to run for mayor?

On one hand, I'm sure there's some folks who think I've done a good job and don't want to challenge me. Others it's a tough job, it's a full-time job, so you do have to leave your job. So I think there's probably a variety of reasons, but I'd like to hope that it's a reflection of my past four years.

All but two of the people running for council are men, and there's a chance the next council could be made up entirely of men. How can you make sure all different people are properly represented?

Over the next term, I would like to find ways that we can encourage more women to run. One of the big challenges was balancing family and meetings, so if we are able to do more hybrid meetings we do offer a phone-in option right now, if you're out of town, but if you can't make childcare, can people dial in via webconference? That's one thing.

For future councils, it's making sure that we're continuing public engagement and committees of council, and ensuring that those are gender-diverse, because I think those are also stepping stones to considering running for council. But yeah, it will be a lot of public engagements continuing, and hoping to encourage future women to run.

People are still pretty bothered about the nine-per-cent property tax increase. What are you doing to ease the burden of the rising cost of living in Yellowknife?

That's definitely one of the challenges this next council is going to face, with the closing of the diamond mines. There's two ways you can impact budget: decreasing expenses, or increasing revenues.

One of the benefits we're seeing is there's a lot of what we call infill. That's bigger buildings, like apartment buildings or duplexes, instead of a single house getting built in areas where we already have infrastructure. That means we're increasing revenue without increasing expenses. If we create a whole new suburb, that means we've got more roads to plow, more water and sewer, waste to pick up. That's increasing revenue but also increasing expenses. The infill will be increasing revenue.

The other side of the equation is looking at our expenses, and it's challenging because water, sewer and waste have high regulatory costs. Everybody wants clean drinking water. Then it comes down to "nice-to-haves" which is recreation, which I think is really important.

But we'll definitely have to take a look at all our services and make sure we're delivering the right level and at the price people are willing to pay. Do you want the gold standard, the silver standard, the bronze standard? Do you not want that service at all? Those are some of the big discussions we'll be having in the next term.

Another issue that always seems to come up is how the city can deal with homelessness. This term is going to take you up to 2026, one year before the city's 10-year plan to end homelessness is up. How are you going to achieve that goal?

We're just finishing our five-year term of funding with the federal government, called Reaching Home. That'll be up for renewal March 31, 2024. The push that we're making is to renew that funding for another five years, and to also double it. We have had it doubled in the past couple of years, and we've seen that we're able to actually tackle bigger projects. We're able to buy the eight-unit apartment building for Home Base so they can work to end homelessness in youth and hopefully end the cycle going forward.

The other thing is, the federal government has a 36-unit apartment building, Aspen, that's been sitting vacant since 2019. We've been pushing to get them to transfer that to a housing NGO. Thirty-six units sitting empty they really should be addressing homelessness.

How confident are you that you'll meet the goal in 2027?

It will be tough, I think, because it's a whole-territory response that we need. The more services we get in Yellowknife, the more people are going to come to Yellowknife to access services if they aren't available in their community. So it can't just be the municipality it's got to be a whole-territory response, because otherwise we're just chasing our tail.

Let's talk about this election. The city is moving to a mail-in ballot system. Can you explain why?

The mail-in ballot has always been an option, but the way it was done in the past was people had to come to city hall, fill out the paperwork and send it back in. The city would then send them the ballot; they would then send the ballot back in.

This time, mail-in ballots are automatically going to all residents. Just like the referendum, you're free to fill out your ballot and you can either drop it off at city hall we've got a drop box there 24 hours a day, seven days a week or you can mail it in. You just have to make sure it arrives by Oct. 17.

You can come and vote in person on Oct. 17. There are going to be two voter locations, one at the Tree of Peace Friendship Centreand the other at the multiplex.

In the past, we had seven voter locations, and depending on where you lived, you had to go to a certain one. This way, you can either choose to use your mail-in ballot or you can choose to go to one of those locations.

If you're not going to get your mail-in ballot in time and you're not going to be here on Oct. 17, you can sign up at city hall to have someone else cast your ballot.

So it's the same three methods we've always had in the past. The difference is mail-in ballots now are automatically being sent and people don't have to request them. And then there's fewer voting locations, but you can attend either one.

How do you think this change will impact the overall number of people casting a ballot?

I hope it increases. For parents, you don't have to bundle your kids up and get them to the polling station with you. You can drop it off over your lunch hour or whenever you want. For people with mobility issues, this is an easier way to vote.

I think for voter participation, it's more about whether people are driven to get out and vote, depending on a certain issue or if they really want to support certain candidates and want to make their voice heard. I hope it increases the number of voters, because there's more options to vote. But I think at the end of the day, it's a case of whether people are feeling engaged and really passionate about the issues.

Is there a deadline by which people have to put their ballots in the mailbox?

You have to make sure your ballot gets to city hall by Oct. 17 at 7 p.m., because that's when the election closes. I wouldn't drop my ballot in on Oct. 16, because it's not going to get to city hall. If you're kind of coming close to Oct. 17, then make sure you drop the ballot off at city hall as opposed to in a mailbox. Just make sure that you give yourself enough time if you're using the mail.

Are you going to vote by mail?

I like the mail-in ballot. Now, I work at city hall, so I fill in my ballot, drop it off on my way to work. But for folks working downtown, you know, you're on your coffee break, fill out your ballot, pop it in and there's no pressure on Oct. 17.

Are any of the council candidates getting your endorsement?

I still need to see everybody's platform. I'm really looking forward to reading all those.